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Norfolk Island Convict Mutinies were a series of armed uprisings by convicts on the penal colony of Norfolk Island. All were unsuccessful. ==1826 Rebellion== The first convict rebellion took place in September 1826. It was led by "Black" John Goff. He arranged for two convict decoys to make an escape attempt; they were followed by several soldiers. While this happened, fifty convicts seized and bound their overseers, robbed the stores for provisions and put three boats to sea. One soldier was killed, bayoneted to death, while others were wounded. The convicts sailed to Phillip Island where they were eventually re-captured, although some eluded the authorities for up to six months.〔(Robert Macklin, ''Dark Paradise: Norfolk Island – isolation, savagery, mystery and murder'' Hachette UK, 30 Jul 2013 ) accessed 3 July 2014〕 The ringleaders – Goff, William Moore and Edward Watson – were tried and hung in Sydney in 1827. The Chief Justice said when passing sentence on John Goff: You... have detailed to the Court a long complaint of the hardships you have undergone, of your love of liberty, and of the degree of violence which you thought yourself justified in using to obtain it. By your own statement your whole life has been one career of crime... It is within the recollection of this Court, how near you were, at no distant period, to have been consigned to the grave, and happy would it have been for you had your career then terminated without the additional crime of the blood of a fellow creature being added to the list... With respect to the general harsh treatment of which you complain on Norfolk Island, what are men sent there for? It is within the knowledge of the Court that they are never sent except for crimes of the deepest dye; and is it then to be supposed that they are sent there to be indulged, to be fed with the fruits of the earth and that they are not to work in chains? No, the object in sending men there is not only as a punishment for their past crimes, but to serve as a terror to others; and so far from it being a reproach, as you have stated it, it is a wise project of the Government in instituting that settlement for the punishment of the twice and thrice convicted felon, as a place of terror to evil doers, and in order to repress the mass of crime with which the Colony unhappily abounds. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Norfolk Island Convict Mutinies」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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